


Down for the Count

by Beccalouuu



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27258418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beccalouuu/pseuds/Beccalouuu
Summary: An episode of sickness takes down a member of intelligence and the team just wants to help.
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Erin Lindsay
Comments: 1
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

I don’t own anyone from Chicago PD. 

He had been staring at his paperwork for at least ten minutes and had yet to make any progress, the pounding in his head was making it difficult to focus. “Halstead!” Voight’s harsh bark brought Jay out of his stupor. 

Jay scrubs a hand over his face before replying, “Yeah Sarge,” he mumbled clearing his throat, against the raw pain that had been lingering for a couple days. 

Voight motioned for him to come into his office, Jay complied quietly shutting the door behind him. “You look like shit Halstead,” Voight growled waving a file up and down, gesturing to Jay’s general appearance. “Punch out, go home.” 

Jay gave Voight an exasperated sigh, “I’m fine sarge,” 

Hank juts his jaw out, “Is that so?” Jay gave him a confident nod, “So I didn’t see you nod off three times in the past hour? I didn’t see you sitting at your desk with a thumb up your ass, staring at that paperwork you owe me for ten minutes?” Jay looked down at the floor, “I don’t want you back in until you’re back on you’re a-game, is that clear?” Jay gave an indignant huff the stomped back out to the bullpen to collect his things. 

Erin looked up at her partner walked past her desk with a scowl on his face. She got up and followed him to his desk. “What was that about?” she asked nodding towards Hank’s office. 

“Voight’s sending me home,” he muttered pulling on his jacket, Erin arched an eyebrow, “Says I’m off my game,” Jay gave a long sniffle and cleared his throat. 

Erin arched an eyebrow at this, “Well, a girl needs her house husband to be 100%, and you seem a little… tired” 

Jay glared at her, “I’m fine” he growled, swiping a hand under his nose. 

“Go home, rest up, and come back tomorrow” Erin murmured catching his eye. “Being sick isn’t a big deal, everybody gets sick.” Erin drops her voice even lower, “I know you haven’t been sleeping lately,” Jay grunted, “Yeah, I hear you watching the history channel till all hours then you’re up at five to go for a run, you just need a break. I’ll walk you out.” 

The duo exited the bullpen making their way down to the parking lot, ignoring Platt’s questioning look. Erin followed behind Jay as he trudged to his truck. He truly looked miserable. “I’ll see you tonight,” she told him as he turned toward her to say goodbye. She carded her fingers through his hair her hands coming to rest at the back of his neck. She noted the warmth of fever emanating from his skin. “Why don’t you give Will a call?” She suggested only to receive a glare from Jay. 

“I don’t need my brother to tell me I have a cold.” He muttered sniffling again. “I’m over thirty years old, I think I know when I need to go to a doctor.” He took a step back from Erin, breaking her grasp. 

Erin held her hands up in surrender “Okay, it was just a suggestion…you sure are pissy when you’re sick.” Jay glared at her with fever bright eyes. “Go home get some rest. Do you want me to pick up anything?” Jay just shook his head and leaned against the drivers side door blowing out an exasperated sigh. 

Jay squinted and the dull brightness of the winter sun and nodded, “Yeah, okay …I’ll see you later.” He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and climbed into his truck.


	2. Chapter 2

Jay had to admit he truly did feel terrible, a realty that was fast catching up with him as he got closer to home. His headache pulsed with his heartbeat, he could feel the snot draining down the back of his throat, his body felt heavy and achy. He was exhausted and felt feverish.  
Jay wanted to sleep he truly did, but the nightmares had been plaguing him for weeks. Collectively he may have slept fifteen hours over the last five days. He had been waking up in a cold sweat, breathless, with the names of his fallen brothers on his lips. After these dreams he was often too amped up to go back to sleep so he began working his way through the backlogged episodes of “Forged in Fire” episodes on his DVR until it was light enough to justify going on a run. By the time he returned from his run Erin was just getting up to start her day. Until her comment about hearing him watching TV when he was supposed to be sleeping, he had though his insomniac activities had been unnoticed.   
Jay stifled a cough in his shoulder as he pulled into his apartment’s parking garage. He parked his truck and trudged upstairs allowing the relief of being home wash over him as he unlocked his door and threw his keys on the end table and began attempting to kick off his boots. Eventually he gave up and collapsed on the couch bending down to unlace then remove them. Jay swung his legs up on the couch and laid back; he just needed to rest his eyes for a few minutes.   
The staccato of gun fire pulled him from restful sleep. He sits up gasping for breath from the couch only to fall into an intense coughing fit. Once the coughing subsides, he scrubs his hand across his face, trying to find clarity in his fever addled brain. He slides his phone out of his pocket to see he had gotten about 2 hours of sleep, it was now a little after 2PM and he missed a few texts from Erin.  
Erin 12: 07 PM: Hey just checking to see if my house husband made it home. Text me to let me know you got settled.

Erin 1:52 PM: I’m gonna see if Hank will let me go early; do you want me to pick up anything?

Erin 2:00 PM: I’m headed out, I’ll swing by the deli and puck up some soup. You better be resting and not blowing me off Halstead. If you’re just sitting watching the history Channel and not sleeping I will call your brother.  
Jay smirked at the empty threat that Erin had made…or at least he hoped it was an empty threat. Jay cleared his throat, grimacing against the pain. He pushed him self off the couch and went to the kitchen grabbing a glass from the dish drainer and taking it to his fridge to fill it with ice and water. He figured he should probably take something for his fever. He was making his way to the bathroom medicine cabinet when he heard a key slide into the lock and his front door open.   
“Jay,” Erin called, “Babe, are you awake?” she popped her head around the corner and smiled as she saw him. “Hey, how are you feeling?” Jay just shrugged, “You still look flushed, did you get any sleep? Did you take anything for the fever?” Erin asked as she carted a large brown sack to the kitchen and pulling out a couple Styrofoam containers. “I got tomato and rice and chicken noodle.”  
Jay grabbed the Tylenol shook out a dose and dry swallowed is before making his way to the kitchen “I’ll eat whatever you don’t want; I’m not that hungry.” Erin frowned at him then pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water before handing it to him.  
“Are you feeling any better?” she asked him, he just shook his head, “Can you tell me what’s going on?”  
Jay sighed before giving his answer, “Headache, sore throat, I think my head weighs forty extra pounds because there is so much snot filling it up.” Erin grimaced.  
“Poor house husband. You didn’t answer my question when I came in did you take anything?”  
“Tylenol, just a few minutes ago detective,” he gave her a small smile.  
Erin returned his smile, she nudged him, “head to the couch well eat some soup and watch Naked and Afraid.” Together the two made their way back into the living room.


	3. Chapter 3

Jay wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but it was dark outside when he opened his eyes. A cool hand on his forehead; Erin smiled at him, “Sorry didn’t mean to wake you,” She removed her hand pushed her hair out of her face. “Hank’s on his way over, he’s got some documentation for the case for me to go over.” Jay shifted from his place on the couch and groaned tossing an arm over his eyes, “I think your fevers up,” she told him as she rounded the couch and made her way to the kitchen, she retuned a few minutes later with a glass of water, she pressed the glass into his hand and ensure he had a good hold on it before removing her hand. Jay took a tentative sip, the cool water felt like razors on his raw throat. Jay finished the glass of water before he eased himself back into the couch. He looked over at Erin who was folding a pile of clean laundry.   
“I washed the sheets, I figured clean sheets wouldn’t be a bad thing,”¬¬¬ he raised an eyebrow at her.   
“That was very domestic of you,” Jay gave her a small smile.   
“I learned from my househusband, he has this anal retentive cleaning scheduled-”  
Jay scoffed “Through not anal retentive” he interrupted.   
A deep wet cough resonated in Jay’s chest and burst out; Erin began gently rubbing his back as he buried his face in his elbow, once the coughing fit subsided a shiver ran through his frame. “I’m cold” he murmured once he caught his breath.  
Erin grimaced, “that comes with the fever.”  
He sniffed and rolled over so he was facing the television and removed his arm from his face. “I though we were watching Forged in Fire,” he mumbled  
“We were but you knocked out like ten minutes into the episode so now I’m watching Jo Anna Gaines revitalize rundown shitholes” Erin shot right back at him.  
Jay rolled his eyes. “We’re not painting again”  
“I never said I wanted to paint again” Erin replied  
“You don’t have to say it. Every time you binge watch this show you come up with some kind of home renovation project that is never as easy as you think its going to be and we get stuck using all our down time until its done.”  
Erin’s reply was cut short by a knock at the door, “That’s Hank,” she pushed herself up and went to answer the door. A few minutes later she had returned to the livingroom with Hank in tow, she went to the kitchen while he stayed. When Jay saw his Sargent he pushed himself up so he was sitting on the couch rather than sprawled across it. The room spun lazily around him in his haste to get upright.   
His boss gave him a curt nod. “Halstead”  
Jay cleared his throat before responding, “Voight,”  
“Platt sent over some soup, says Mouch and the boys at the fire house like to eat it when they’re sick. She seems to think that it’ll knock this crap right out of you.”  
Jay scowled, “Lovely” he coughed into his elbow again, this spell lasting longer than before and bringing tears to his eyes. His head pounded with his heartbeat. When he stopped coughing and could catch his breath again he scrubbed a hand over his face. “Sorry,” he murmured.   
Voight just gave a dismissive grunt “Not your fault. Just wanted to see how you were doing. Had some old case files for Erin to look over maybe we can find a connection to the case Vice is working on from the gang shooting at the beginning of the month.” Jay nodded his understanding. The two sat in uneasy silence waiting for Erin to come back in the room.   
“I can maybe look it over with her the when we go in tomorrow-”  
Hank made eye contact, “I’m pretty sure I said not to come back to work until you were well again. And before you start in on that fine crap let me just say you show up still running a fever then I will have your ass ridding a desk for the next month. You’ll be answering to Platt, is that understood?”  
“Yeah,” Jay replied tightly restraining himself from saying what he really felt.   
Hank sighed, “Look this stuff over tonight if you’re feeling up to it and then tomorrow if they need more stuff sorted through or if something pops off I’ll have some one from patrol bring more stuff by.” Jay gave him a small smirk. “Just don’t go making yourself worse by obsessing about this. It’s Vice’s case we’re just helping out.”   
“Thanks Sarge.”  
Erin scoffed from across the room, “Yeah thanks a lot Hank. This is just what he needed to help him rest.”   
Hank grunted his response before making an excuse to leave, telling Erin he would see her in the morning before heading out. Little did Erin and Jay know that the night leading up to the next morning would not be so peaceful.


	4. Chapter 4

Erin woke to a rough shake of her shoulder, fever warm skin making contact with the skin not covered by her tee shirt. They had stayed up a couple more hours after Hank left. Jay had struggled to focus on the flies before he gave up out of frustration. He had chosen to watch the Blackhawks game but fell asleep before the end of the first period. It had taken her a ridiculous amount of time to coax him to bed and even longer to ply him with more Tylenol and water. He had finally fallen into a restless slumber around midnight. A panicked murmuring of her name helped shake the last dregs of sleep from her mind.   
“Ern” Jay’s voice was tense and urgent.  
“Babe, what’s wrong”  
“it’s in the bed” he rasped.  
Erin’s brow furrowed in confusion, “What?”  
“There’s a snake in the bed” Jay relayed.  
Erin flicked on the light and pulled back the covers, Jay’s side of the bed had sheets twisted and knotted. She looked over at her boyfriend who was standing beside her; his eyes fever glazed and his cheeks bright red. “Jay,” she sighed “There’s no snake it’s the fever.”  
Jay shook his head, “It was wrapped around my leg.”  
“It was just the blankets, its okay,” she assured him standing up and placing a gentle hand on his forehead gaging his fever again. He was much warmer than he had been earlier. “We need to get you cooled off.” She led him to the bathroom and turned on the shower adjusting the water temperature so that it was lukewarm. She helped him undress and climb under the shower spray. Jay tensed up under the water at first as his fevered body adjusted to the water that felt like ice water. Jay began to shiver.  
“It’s cold” he murmured.  
“Just let your body get used to the water,” she instructed. He stood there under the spray for a few minutes before he spoke again.   
“In Afghanistan we would go snake hunting at night… this one time they guys in my unit the cut the head off this cobra and left the body in my bed.” His teeth chattered. “scared the hell outta me, been scared to death of snakes since.” He explained giving her a small smile before he dissolved into a coughing fit. His skin felt cooler, so she turned off the water.   
“Come on, lets get you dried off and warmed back up, huh.” He nodded still sporadically coughing. “I hate snakes too,” she told him. “I’m going to go make you a cup of tea and then we can go back to bed.”  
Jay shook his head, “Let’s just go back to sleep.” Erin consented she and Jay climbed back under the covers and drifted off back to sleep.  
The second time she was woken up it was closer to dawn, the place beside her was empty and cold indicating Jay had been up for a while. She could hear muffled coughing coming from the main part of the apartment. She dragged herself out of bed and padded out to find him.   
Jay was at the kitchen table cleaning his gun. “Babe, what are you doing?” she asked quietly. Jay jumped before coughing harshly.  
“Couldn’t sleep,”  
“Well, I don’t think cleaning your weapon is a good use of you time…especially when you should be focused on not cooking you brain.” For what felt like the millionth time she touched fever skin. He was burning up, much warmer than he had been a couple hours ago. “I think we need-” she was cut shot by her phone ringing. She looked at the screen and saw it was hank calling; likely calling them in, well her in, Jay wasn’t going anywhere but to the doctor. “Hey Hank,” Jay listened to the one side of the conversation he could hear and frowned. “Okay I’ll see you in a bit” Erin ended the call. “I gotta go in but Hank said he was going to send mouse over to work remotely.” She gave him a small smile. “What do you saw we get another shower, huh?”  
Jay arched an eyebrow, “We? Does that mean you’re going to join me?”  
Erin’s response was interrupted by another coughing fit. “If you think you can handle it turbo.” She took his hand and led him to their room.


	5. Chapter 5

Mouse has been updating the UC requisition forms for about a hour when he heard movement from Erin and Jays room. He hadn’t thought much of it Erin had told him that Jay was only sleeping a couple of hours at a time that was until he heard Jay behind him and felt the cool metal of what he assumed was a gun.   
“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?” came Jay’s horse voice.   
Mouse slowly raised his hands and began turning towards his friend. “Jay…buddy it’s me …it’s Mouse.” Mouse saw confusion cloud the other’s features.  
“M-M-Mouse,” Jay croaked.  
“Yeah man. Let me take that from you.” Mouse reached to disarm the clearly disoriented man.  
Jay took a step back and pointed the gun back at Mouse. “You’re not supposed to be here.” Jay’ s breathing was speeding up and Mouse could hear a slight wheeze.   
“We work together… at intelligence. You helped me get clean…got me a job.” It seemed like Jay was gaining some clarity. “Just give me the gun Jay” when Jay made no motion to acknowledge Mouse, he tried another tactic, “Sargent, I’m going to need you to hand me your side arm.” Ever the solider he saw a shift in Jay’s eyes. Jay flicked on the safety and handed the gun to Mouse. “Good that’s good Jay,” Mouse noted the heat rolling off his friend. “Erin said she took your gun with her when she left, where did you even get this, huh? Don’t tell me you are turning in to one of those vets that hordes weapons and ammo?” Mouse tried to joke but it was clear Jay was not all there. “What do you say we see if Will can make a house call?” he suggested. Jay fell into a harsh coughing fit that left him gasping, only confirming Mouse’s suspicion that Jay needed medical attention. “I’ll grab your meds and I’ll give Will a call,”   
Once Mouse had gotten Jay settled back in the living room where he could keep an eye on him. he called Will. “Mouse what can I do for you?”  
“Will, Jay’s sick,” A deep wet cough burst from Jays chest., loud enough for Will to hear over the phone. “Fever, disorientation… he pulled a gun on me.” Mouse murmured. Mouse shot a look over to his friend who shifted restlessly on the couch.  
“How long has he been sick?” Will asked on the other end, “What about that cough?”  
Mouse sighed, “Voight sent his home yesterday morning, he seemed like he might have a fever but was maybe just run down. Erin said the cough and other stuff came on quickly.”  
Mouse heard Will scoff, “Yeah right. It’s more like it just got to the point that he couldn’t hide it anymore.” The older Halstead grumbled. “Look I just got on shift and am swamped… but Natalie just got off and I don’t think she’d have an issue swinging by to check him out or maybe Ethan.”  
Mouse considered the options, considering Jay’s trip into PTSD hell only a short time ago Mouse felt more comfortable having Ethan, who had experience handling Jay when he was in this state. “Maybe try Ethan first he has more experience with Jay when he’s…” Mouse trailed off. “I-I think he’s having some issues compartmentalizing. You know like flashbacks and stuff.”  
“Okay let me see what I can do. I’ll see if I can get someone to cover the rest of my shift once things settle down, but in the meantime, I’ll have Ethan come over and at the very least try and get his fever under control.” Will was at a loss, torn between knowing his little brother was sick and wanting to make him feel better but knowing how prickly and stubborn said pain in the ass little brother could be when he was sick. “Thanks for watching out for him Mouse, I’ll see you in a bit.”

Dr. Will Halstead trudged up the stairs to his little brother’s apartment a grueling five hours later, his intentions to cut out of work were delayed by what seemed to be a never-ending stream of patients. Regardless he was finally able to leave Med and make his way to his brother’s apartment. Ethan had called soon after he had sent the other doctor to play nurse-maid to his ailing little brother; reporting that at the very least Jay had a sever upper respiratory infection, but he was leaning more towards pneumonia. A diagnosis that could only be confirmed with a chest x-ray that Jay had outright refused. Ethan had asked Will to bring one of the nebulizers from Med so they could at the very least administer a breathing treatment. He unlocked the door to his brother’s apartment. When he opened the door he saw his brother sitting up in the recliner dead to the world. Jay’s mouth hung open and Will could hear the wheezing breaths from across the room. He shook his head at the sight Ethan and Mouse were watching James Bond.   
“Sean Connery was the best James Bond hands down.” Ethan insisted Will could only guess that this conversation had been going on for a while.   
“Pierce Brosnan was the complete package he was a suave bad-ass.” Mouse countered before looking to the older Halstead, “Hey Will.” Ethan stood and stretched out his back.   
Will shook the other doctor’s hand, “Thanks Ethan I appreciate you hanging out and keeping an eye on him. I owe you a round at Molly’s.” Will gave him an easy smile.   
Ethan shrugged, “Hey at least this time he didn’t take a swing at me, we are making progress. Pretty soon he will consider me his very own house calling physician.”  
“The day that my kid brother asks a doctor to take a look at him under his own volition will be then end of the world and we will have bigger things to worry about.” Will smirked.  
Ethan nodded his understanding, “Okay so Motrin is holding the fever steady and I started him on some broad spectrum antibiotics and steroids. He took some codeine cough syrup about an hour ago and just really fell asleep with-in the last twenty minutes.” Will nods. “I’m gonna head out but let me know if you guy need anything else.” Will walks his colleague to the door and waves as Ethan makes his way down the hall.   
Will turned back around to find mouse packing up his things. “You headed out too?” Mouse grimaced and nodded.   
“Yeah, I gotta get back to the 21st” Mouse looked down at his feet before speaking again, “He’s had a couple of really intense nightmares I think it’s the fever but it takes him a bit to reorient himself.” Will nodded as he followed Mouse to the door.   
“Thanks again Mouse, let Erin know that I’ll stay with him till she’s done at the precinct.” Will watched his brother’s friend leave and felt his heartbreak for his little brother and the trauma he had experienced.


End file.
